SENATE TAKES NEW ANGLE ON NEW ENERGY INCENTIVES

Substantiating rumors previously reported bv NewEnergyNews, the Senate Finance Committee (Max Baucus, D-Mont, Chairman and Chuck Grassley, R-Ia, Ranking Member) has put forward new Tax Extenders legislation to prevent vital New Energy tax credits from expiring at the end of 2008.

The New Energy incentives part of the Senate Finance Committee bill is quite similar to the package approved 88 to 8 by the Senate April 10 and included into a housing assistance bill passed and sent on the House of Representatives the same day.

Why again?

The housing assistance bill is politically a much bigger deal than the New Energy incentives because lots of Americans are too worried about the mortgage mess to think about installing solar panels. When conservative Senators included the New Energy incentives in the housing package, they knew the House could not afford to get hung up fighting to fund them. They knew House leaders would eventually drop them like a radical pastor from that legislation. But for their trouble they got the political gift of being able to say they had voted for New Energy.

Is the Baucus-Grassley/Finance Committee package of New Energy incentives any different? Not in content. From Senator Baucus’ statement: “These incentives include tax credits for wind and solar power, efficient buildings and appliances, and clean renewable energy bonds.”

But to sustain the enormous burst of New Energy expansion the U.S. is generating despite a less than flush economy, Congress must find a way to pay for the New Energy incentives package ($6 billion over 10 years). (See UH, ABOUT THOSE NEW ENERGY INCENTIVES)

The House has consistently wanted to fund New Energy incentives by shifting some unnecessary subsidies away from the fossil fuels industries. A recalcitrant minority of fossil fool Senators mired in 1950s thinking has refused to let that happen. So vital New Energy incentives continue to go unfunded and may soon expire, costing the U.S. investments worth $20 billion dollars and as many as 120,000 jobs.

Senator Baucus says he knows how to fund the incentives: “…while I believe that this Congress should have paid for energy-tax legislation with the offsets passed by the Finance Committee last year, it’s not clear that passing [the housing bill package] gets us any further to extending these important tax incentives…That’s why I have been working on offsets that can pass both bodies and be signed by the President. And that’s what I will continue to do to get these important energy items — as well as other vital extenders — passed…”

Baucus will need all the help he can get. There is a petition enlisting grass roots support at Support Renewable Energy Tax Credits. Click through. Sign it.

What was that Al Gore said?

click to enlarge

Senate bill would extend energy tax credits
Tom Doggett (w/Walter Bagley), April 17, 2008 (Reuters)

WHO
Senate Finance Committee (Max Baucus, D-Mont, Chairman and Chuck Grassley, R-Ia, Ranking Member)

Senators Baucus (D-Mont) and Grassley (R-Ia) have a secret way to get the New Energy incentives extended. (click to enlarge)

WHAT
The Senate Finance Committee Tax Extenders Legislation aims to extend vital New Energy tax credits.

WHEN
- Introduced April 17. No schedule for debate yet.
- June 2007: The Finance Committee passed a ~$30 billion energy-tax package (a bipartisan vote). Defeated narrowly by the full Senate.
- December 2007: The full Senate defeated a smaller incentives package by 1 vote.
- February 2008: Incentives package again defeated by 1 vote.
- April 10: Unfunded incentives package passed by Senate, 88-8.

WHERE
- First the Senate, then the House. Then the President. Then the world.
- Send a message to the House of Representatives from here.

Not many Senators voted against sending the problem on to the House. (click to enlarge)

WHY
- How they voted
- According to Senator Baucus, the American solar industry employs 20,000 Americans and extension of the investment tax credit would triple that number.
The wind energy industry grew 45% in 2007 and was 30% of the nation’s new power capacity.
- PTCs and ITCs are vital to the continuing growth of New Energy in exactly the same way that longstanding tax breaks and subsidies are vital to the fossil fuel and nuclear energy industries.
- The solar industry ITC provides a tax break on 30 cents of every dollar invested in solar installations.
- The wind industry PTC provides a tax break of 2 cents for every kilowatt-hour of wind energy produced.
- Like the Cantwell/Ensign legislation, the Baucus package extends both tax breaks and provides other New Energy and energy Efficiency incentives.

Maybe this is the Baucus/Grassley secret: Either Congress solves this problem and funds New Energy or the American people will get themselves a new Congress in November. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Senator Baucus (D-Mont): “The bill extends much-needed energy provisions…Public and private investment in the renewable energy sector was about $90 billion worldwide last year…a 27 percent increase over 2006…Congress can direct this investment toward the U.S. — rather than overseas — by supporting clean energy tax incentives…”
- Senator Baucus (D-Mont): “These incentives include tax credits for wind and solar power, efficient buildings and appliances, and clean renewable energy bonds. These provisions are not only good energy policy. They also create jobs…”